Image by Yan Krukov 8 Things Music Teachers Wish Parents Knew Music teachers and parents share an important goal: the education of a young musician. We both want the best outcome for the student, and we get the best results when parent and teacher are on the same page about lessons. Whether you’ve just enrolled your child in music lessons, or you’ve been working with a teacher for quite a while, there’s a lot you may not be aware of about how taking private lessons works, both in a practical sense and on a personal level. Misunderstandings, bad assumptions, or inappropriate expectations can ..read more

To anyone who hoards pretty notebooks Writers of various kinds have been known to have a pretty notebook collection that sits unused. There’s just something so alluring, so magical, about smooth pages and elegantly designed covers. They’re inspiring, we think, although somehow they end up being intimidating. I have a stack of them for dream journaling. Half are filled, half are empty. I kept buying them even after my writing slowed down. Was it related, having more blank books destined to be filled with new entries and my waning motivation to write those entries? I don’t know. It reminds me o ..read more

Image by Tentes from Pixabay How much should you practice? There’s a lot of advice out there about how much musicians should practice. How many times per week? How long per session? An hour a day? Five hours a day? Does it depend on level? Some people seem to believe that no matter how much time you spend singing or playing your instrument, you should be doing more. So, in my considered opinion, how much should a musician practice? Enough. LOL Haha, Laurel, very funny. How much practice is enough? Not too little and not too much. LOL! Okay seriously… “Enough” really is my answer. And ..read more

Should you skip your music lesson this week? Ever ask yourself, “Is this a good enough reason to skip my music lesson this week? Or to let my kid skip their lesson?” Let me answer that question for you. You have a conflicting scheduled activity Maybe. Is it a non-negotiable, one-time thing? Which activity do you value more, that or music? How often do you have conflicts, and how often do you choose something else over your lesson? Compromises are necessary sometimes, but make sure it’s not always your lesson that gets compromised. You would rather do something fun No, you can do that anothe ..read more

Sorry, I can’t teach you You probably thought this was going to be an article about how some people are unteachable - some people lack the aptitude to learn singing or piano, or they don’t have natural talent or an ear for music. NOPE! Let me reiterate that I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a student who can’t be taught. I’ve written a few things about talent, and how I think the whole concept is worse than useless. There are no unteachable people. But there are people that I can’t teach. Any teacher who claims to be able to teach anything to anyone is either deluded or predatory. Th ..read more

Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels How to start singing for the first time If you’re not in the habit of singing but you want to get more comfortable making music with your voice, try these tips for what, when, and where to start singing. Lots of people want to sing, but they don’t. Why? It could be because they are too embarrassed to sing in front of people or be overheard, or even to hear themselves. It could just be because they’re not used to using their voice, and singing feels awkward and unfamiliar. Are you one of those people? How do you break the ice and get started singing more o ..read more

Maybe my voice is just bad It’s a common concern among beginner voice students and inexperienced singers. Is this fear justified? Could someone have a voice that’s just inherently not good and can’t get better with training? “Good” and “bad” are not words I usually use to describe voices, because they’re subjective, and they’re not nearly specific enough to be useful. But let’s say a “good” voice probably has these qualities and abilities: Pleasant and consistent tone Accurate pitch Range of at least two octaves Sufficient volume and projection Agility and speed Ability to perfor ..read more

Photo by Dayvison de Oliveira Silva What does it take to be a pro? The ten things that separate the best from the rest Could you be a professional musician? If you want to perform music at a high level, and make a living doing it, you need to know what it takes to grow and sustain a career. Working musicians tend to have a certain set of qualities and abilities that allow them to succeed, and if you want to level up from amateur to pro someday, you’ll need to have them, too. This list of ten necessities for a successful career professionally performing music is based on my own experience and ..read more

Maybe my voice is just bad It’s a common concern among beginner voice students and inexperienced singers. Is this fear justified? Could someone have a voice that’s just inherently not good and can’t get better with training? “Good” and “bad” are not words I usually use to describe voices, because they’re subjective, and they’re not nearly specific enough to be useful. But let’s say a “good” voice probably has these qualities and abilities: Pleasant and consistent tone Accurate pitch Range of at least two octaves Sufficient volume and projection Agility and speed Ability to perfor ..read more

Progress for Perfectionists: Why you should ask for help Or, more accurately, why you won’t ask for help, even though you know you should Asking for help is the Achilles’ heel of the perfectionist. Everyone needs help sometimes. But perfectionists have a really hard time getting the help they need and deserve, because they resist asking for it, and they’re reluctant to accept help when it’s offered. Perfectionists are convinced they shouldn’t need any help. Why? Oh boy. If we really knew that, maybe we wouldn’t be such perfectionists! Getting better at asking for help would be greatly ben ..read more